After an initial flurry of titles, releases for the service soon slowed to the point where most of you probably forgot it was even around. And it may as well have disappeared, with Microsoft saying it has now “finished its portfolio” of releases for the service, and that following one final release (which has yet to be determined), there will be no more Xbox games offered for download.

Shame. The service had real potential. Or, it would have if Microsoft had bothered releasing more stuff like Psychonauts, or had fixed some backwards-compatibility issues so they could sell Jet Set Radio and Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath.

E3 2009: The End of Originals [IGN]

As foretold by the ESRB last month, both Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne are now available for purchase and play on your Xbox 360 courtesy of the Xbox Originals program. Both games will set you back 1200 Microsoft points ($15.00 in real-world money), which is a small price to pay for washing the taste of Marky Mark’s performance in the movie out of your mouth before Rockstar releases Max Payne 3.

Rockstar Games and Microsoft may be giving Xbox 360 owners a chance to brush up on their Max Payne history in advance of the release of Max Payne 3, courtesy of the Xbox Originals program.

The ESRB lists relatively new ratings for both Max Payne and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne for the Xbox 360. Typically, that’s a good indicator that the games are going to hit the Xbox Originals lineup. That’s a good opportunity for those of you who missed out on the originals to see how Max progresses from terminally pinch-faced to sad and droopy to blood-spattered and grizzled over the course of the trilogy.

We expect the release date to be between now and “Winter.”

Max Payne [ESRB via Destructoid]

While we’re waiting for Lionhead’s next batch of downloadable content for Fable II, Microsoft slashes the price of the original next week, with an Alien Hominid HD discount following soon after.

The Xbox Deal of the Week soldiers on next week with “the beloved RPG classic from Peter Molyneux”, Fable. The Xbox Original is being discounted from 1200 Microsoft points to 800, giving players who missed out an excellent reason to experience the game that Fable II apologised for so capably.

During the week of March 23rd, the Battlestations Midway: Iowa Mission Pack add-on gets discounted by 20%, with things picking up once again on the 30th with Alien Hominid’s price lowered to 400 points.

See? The Xbox Live Deal of the Week program isn’t all bad! Just mostly bad.

The Xbox Originals program selection process continues to confuse, as the Gamerscore Blog revlelas the next addition to the lineup of downloadable “classics” for the Xbox 360, Terminal Reality’s Blowout.

Only the fact that Crecente might actually be reading this post keeps me from just writing “Why?” 200 times and calling it a day. For 1200 Microsoft points on January 19th you can download Majesco’s 2003 run and gun shooter, which scored around a 50 average on GameRankings. If that’s a bit too pricey, you could always buy the original game for the Xbox on Amazon for $1.50 used. Or you could just not buy it at all, which is probably your safest bet.

At this point I am convinced the Xbox Originals selection process features a hat and a blindfolded child.

BlowOut Coming to Xbox Originals [Gamerscore Blog]

If you’re not one of the five million-plus who already has a copy of Halo: Combat Evolved, Microsoft is giving you a chance to score the Xbox Originals version on the cheap this week.

The newest (and final) Holiday Deal of the Week from the Xbox team is the original Halo, now just a mere 600 Microsoft Points, 50% off the standard Xbox Originals price of 1200 Microsoft Points. If we’re looking at this abacus right, that’s just $7.50 (AU$9.90) for the game that EGM called “the killer app for the Xbox.” Wow!

It will be available for Xbox Live Gold members in all regions starting Tuesday, ending Monday.

Happy nostalgia!

This weeks Deal: Halo: Combat Evolved [Xbox Live's Major Nelson]

Sega Soccer Slam was originally released in 2002 for the Xbox, a zany, arcadey soccer game from Black Box, then known for the NHL 2K work. This one’s just for North America only, the home of soccer!

Raze’s Hell puts you in the shoes… err, bare feet of anti-hero Raze, who must destroy all cute things, gruesomely, in this hard as hell, action shoot ‘n’ slash. Both Xbox Originals will set you back the standard 1500 Microsoft Points when they land Monday.

Hey kids! It’s a downloadable GTA game! Your parents won’t even have to go into the store to show ID! Oh who am I kidding, you’ve all already played it.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas™ [Xbox Originals - Thanks Mustapha!]